The view into Sorry Coffee Co. from the Kit and Ace showroom.
Kit and Ace, a clothing-and-luxury lifestyle brand known for its proprietary blend of machine-washable cashmere, has seamlessly merged lattes and athleisure in Toronto’s upscale Yorkville neighborhood with the introduction of Sorry Coffee Co.
Founded in Vancouver by Shannon Wilson, a former lead designer at Lululemon Athletica, and her stepson JJ Wilson, Kit and Ace now has more than 60 stores worldwide. But the Yorkville shop is one of only two that also houses a Sorry Coffee Co. (the other being in London, England).
The view from Sorry into Kit and Ace.
Dylan Wu, once at De Mello Palheta Coffee Roasters and Voodoo Child Espresso & Cocktail Bar, is the coffee director at Toronto’s Sorry outpost. Of the cafe’s repentant name, he says, “To Kit and Ace, ‘Sorry’ is a distinctly Canadian phrase and our way of poking fun at ourselves. Around the world, Canadians are known for their boundless civility and for apologizing for things we didn’t do. By pairing Sorry Coffee with Kit and Ace, it can act as a gentle reminder to the rest of the world that we are a Canadian company.”
“We’re so Sorry”: Dylan Wu (right) with barista Kait Winter.
Sorry’s Toronto location sources beans from in-town roaster De Mello Palheta. “Though Kit and Ace is a global company,” Wu explains, “each of our showrooms features hyper-local elements based on the neighborhood, community, or city it is in.” An ongoing series of custom designs for Sorry’s takeaway cups features the work of local artists; this quarter’s designs were created by Toronto artist Andrew Kidder, also known as Rcade.
Rcade-designed cups at Sorry Coffee Co.
Sorry pulls shots of espresso on a two-group La Marzocco GB5 using a pair of Mazzer Robur grinders, all of which have been custom-coated with copper by the folks at Espresso Parts. Sorry doesn’t serve drip, but the shop does prepare seasonal single-origin pour-overs on Hario V60s using a Mahlkönig EK 43 grinder, a Marco Ecoboiler hot water tower, and Acaia scales. This cafe uses conflicting “sorry” and “not sorry” custom cups and dishes from notNeutral.
If visiting Sorry Coffee Co., know that the shop only accepts cards, and doesn’t include tipping in its service model. “Kit and Ace is a cashless company, so it follows suit that Sorry would be as well,” says Wu. “The main idea is that we seek to save our guests time in both the products we sell and how we sell them. By being cashless, there is no more fumbling around for change or the mental arithmetic that comes with dealing in cash, so you get your coffee that much quicker.”
Ashley Tomlinson is the founder of The Little Black Coffee Cup, a digital coffee publication based in Toronto. Read more Ashley Tomlinson on Sprudge.
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